Edmonton Oilers coach Mike Babcock put out a message that will be music to the ears of many Oilers fans, his insistence that team leaders Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl lead the way on defence.

Asked what he was expecting from his team in its first exhibition game against Winnipeg, Babcock said, “I want us to take care of the puck. I want us to play with detail. I want us to work. Is that a reasonable expectation for your first exhibition game? I don’t know, but that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

A reporter then asked, “I know it’s hard not to watch with McDavid and Draisaitl, but I’d be more interested in watching the guys who want to see if they’re going to make the team, where they might be.”

“Yeah, one hundred per cent the opposite,” Babcock said, then said of McDavid and Draisaitl. “Those guys got to do things right. And if they do things right everyone else will do things right. So they’re the most important people to do things without the puck that we need. Now, they’re going to play their game, but they have to play with detail without the puck, and so that’s a focus for sure. And the second part is to find depth. We need depth in the organization so we don’t have to play those guys too much. So that’s my job: find it.”

1. I’ve long been a vocal critic of Draisaitl’s defensive shortcomings, and have also criticized McDavid in recent years over the same issue.

I know not everyone agrees with me, but I saw Draisaitl as an inconsistent man-to-man defender under Jay Woodcroft. Sometimes the big centre charged back like superman on the backcheck, but other times he lost his man in the d-zone and got beat on rebounds and slot passes.

In Kris Knoblauch’s zone defence, Draisaitl wandered too much, while McDavid would too often abandon his position in the zone system to try to chase down puck carriers, leaving his own assigned spot in the process.

I’ve always said the Oilers won’t win the Stanley Cup until their very best players play consistent championship defence. Draisaitl and McDavid have often been solid on defence in big games, but consistency has been lacking. The same goes for the rest of the team.

It looks like Job #1 as far as Babcock is concerned is to have these players focus on their play without the puck.

I was thrilled to hear him so emphatically make this point. I’ve been waiting forever to hear an Oilers coach be so straightforward with what the main issue is with this team, its on-again, off-again commitment to do the right things without the puck.

Other coaches pussy-footed around this matter. Babcock is facing it head on, which is great news, as there will be no success for the Oilers if McDavid and Draisaitl don’t step up to lead the charge on defence.

2. As for finding depth on the team, Oilers GM Stan Bowman has been hard at that task this past year, bringing in as many as five new players (Jason Dickinson, Alex Formenton, Josh Samanski, Colton Dach and Mathieu Joseph) who might well make some noise in Edmonton’s Bottom 6. It’ll be interesting to see what Babcock makes of these players, and which ones come out on top with third and fourth line jobs.